Powercor expects the outage between 9am and 5pm to impact the power supplies of 1600 customers. The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting temperature to reach 31 degrees in Edenhope on Saturday. 

Four power poles in the region were identified through regular inspection and monitoring as needing to be replaced.

Powercor Networks head of digital Luke Skinner said, while Powercor crews were changing out the poles, the company’s technology team would also take the opportunity to test new pole inspection methods.

“We’ve designed our works program to keep the outages and their duration to an absolute minimum. We thank customers for their patience and understanding as we conduct this work,” he said.

Mr Skinner said Powercor was conducting a trial of technologies in the hope to improve the results or efficiency of pole inspections.

He said one in three of the 570,000 poles across the Powercor network was routinely inspected last year.

“We already use a technology called Woodscan to verify and detect defects inside a pole. The Edenhope poles will form part of a test of new technologies that can assess the integrity of the full length of a wood pole, both above and below ground,” he said.

Mr Skinner said residents with questions could contact Powercor’s customer centre on 13 22 06.

HELICOPTER inspections are underway in Horsham and surrounding areas to scan vegetation growing near powerlines.

The inspections are a part of Powercor’s year-round bushfire mitigation program. Inspections will take place throughout March using two Bell 260 helicopters.

Powercor vegetation manager, Hugh Vickers-Willis said the purpose of the inspections was to improve the safety and reliability of its network.

“As the owner and operator of the electricity poles and wires across some of Victoria’s most bushfire- prone areas, we work throughout the year to get ready for summer,” he said.

“These inspections are being carried out now to get ready for the next fire season and they are also used to highlights any urgent work that needs to take place straight away."

Mr Vickers-Willis said it was important to keep the public informed about aerial inspections.

“We get enquiries from people asking why the helicopters are flying low over their town so we want to reassure people that it’s for a very good reason, to keep the community safe,” he said.

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